• Database
• NERD
• Thesis

NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES RACE TO DIGITIZE THESES AS NEW NATIONAL DATABASE HITS 11,000 SUBMISSIONS

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  CapitalTimesNews / 4 weeks
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• 3 min read

Nigeria’s education digitisation drive is gaining remarkable traction as students nationwide have uploaded over 11,000 academic projects and theses within the first month of the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD) going live. The initiative is a flagship programme of the Federal Ministry of Education. Current data from the NERD analytics portal reveals Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, is leading the national effort with 990 curated entries. Bayero University, Kano follows closely with 611 submissions, while Auchi Polytechnic in Edo State holds third place with 532 entries. Other institutions demonstrating strong early participation are Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma (493), Osun State Polytechnic, Iree (479), University of Ilorin (469), Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology, Ikere Ekiti (462), Kaduna Polytechnic (379), University of Benin (374), and University of Nigeria, Nsukka (282). These institutions complete the top ten contributors. The programme has successfully enrolled over 40,000 students onto its system. Nationwide participation includes 158 postgraduate entries from 242 active institutions. An analysis of research themes shows a strong focus on Science and Innovation, which dominates submissions with 5,952 entries. This category also includes submissions from Arts and Social Sciences students exploring innovation-related themes. Other popular research areas are Multidisciplinary Studies (2,091), Engineering and Technology (1,958), Tourism and Entertainment (1,392), Infrastructure and Sustainable Development (952), and Humanities (783). NERD, supervised by the Minister of Education Dr. Tunji Alausa, has also onboarded 135 tertiary institutions for academic credential verification, marking a significant step in combating certificate fraud. Spokesperson Haula Galadima elaborated on the programme’s strategic goals. “Lecturers are likely to be more thorough in their supervision when they know their names will accompany those works — visible to researchers, industry leaders, and entrepreneurs globally,” Galadima said. She added that the system now includes precision metrics to track earned allowances for academic supervision, helping government agencies quantify the volume of work done by lecturers outside regular duties. The data also reveals a promising trend in gender participation, with female students submitting 6,142 entries compared to 4,995 from male students, highlighting growing female involvement in academic research and digitisation. The NERD initiative is a key part of the Tinubu administration’s education reform, aiming to create a centralised digital archive of academic outputs from all Nigerian tertiary institutions. The Federal Government’s intention is to upgrade institutional quality and reduce research duplication without directly interfering in institutional autonomy. The NERD portal currently provides open access to analytics through its Data Analytics and Open Platform dashboards. While the agency has asked the NYSC to exempt undergraduates whose clearance processes began before the October 6 enforcement date, students across the country continue to upload their theses hourly, demonstrating the programme’s rapid adoption. In addition to thesis digitisation, NERD is implementing the National Academic Credential Verification programme and the National Students’ Clearing House, which will serve as the central post-admission record keeper for all Nigerian tertiary institutions.